Research Proposal
WARNING: HIGH CELL PHONE USAGE
Courtney Buchna
English 202
Section 013
Fall 2008
ABSTRACT:
My research paper is going to be about the exploration of the 'dangers' of the high usage of cell phones among high school students, and college students (ages 18-25) today and how it effects them educationally. The reader will learn why high school students and modern day college students are abusing the usage of their cell phones. Readers are to prospectively learn the effects of what the frequent use of cell phones can do to students within the education system. Specifically, I plan to discuss how cell phones are used in cases of cheating, text-bullying, rumor spreading, exploitation, punctuality/responsibility and social effectiveness.
INTRODUCTION:
The topic of my paper is about cell phones and high school and college students today. Specifically, my research question entails the dangers of the high usage of cell phones among high school students and how the use affects them within the education system. Conversations that will be discussed within the paper include; the education effects of cell phones regarding text messaging used for cheating, bullying, rumor spreading, and punctuality. I will also discuss the way cell phones have caused the high school students to act socially different than those of a pervious time.
The research question is to my interest in that I can directly relate to the points I will be discussing. I can use first hand experiences to help convey the idea in my paper and explore my research question that have carried with me from high school to college. This topic is important in that it is causing problems within school districts and can cause problems with the future educators of today. This topic is also of importance because the use of cell phones among high school students are contributing to more problems that school face. It also can affect students emotionally and psychologically. This topic relates to the theme of digital life in that it is directed to the children of the growing 'digital generation' of today. The topic will demonstrate the effects of having a digital life can be damaging and harsh.
FIELDWORK STATEMENT:
I plan to conduct two fieldwork activities. The first fieldwork activity I plan to do is to interview my high school English teacher (who is now a principal). I plan to e-mail him asking the high school's current cell phone policy, what the old policy used to be and why they have switched the policy. I will also ask him on his opinion is on his students usage of cell phones and what effects he thinks they have on them. My second field work activity is to conduct a poll on the use of cell phones among of college students here at IUP. I plan to write a simple questionnaire and pass them out to my 45 sorority sisters at one of our meetings. I would try to collect information from them that showed how many hours the spend using on the phone per day, week and maybe month, and how much texts they send in a day, week and maybe month. I would also like to find out some other ways they use texting or see if I can get any of them to admit they have used a cell phone for a negative reason within education.
REVIW OF TYPES OF SOURCES/CONVERSATIONS:
The types of sources that I plan to use include my fieldwork activities, articles from the web, EBSCOhost, online newspapers, essays and books. Information that I have found in these sources will serve as the points that I will discuss in my paper. Information that comes from my fieldwork will add to support to topics such as texting and cheating, abuse of texting, texting as distractions, texting with multitasking, and texting with gossip. Information that will also support the various uses of cell phones and texting will come from online websites and online newspapers. Information that will pertain to the social effects of my paper will come from online websites. Information that has been done/collected from other's studies or research come from essays and EBSCOhost articles. I still have not gotten a chance to classify information from the books I have found.
WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY:
WEB ARTICLES FROM NEWSPAPERS, AND WEBSITES:
4 Troubled Teens. Teen Cell Phone Use: Friend or Foe?. 12 Oct. 2008
<http://4troubledteens.com/teen-cell-phone-use.html>.
Aisner, Art, and Mathis Joe. "Local Case of Girl Texting Nude Photo of Herself
Part of Disturbing Nationwide Trend." Livgingston Community News. 16 Oct. 2008. 18 Oct. 2008. <http://blog.mlive.com/lcn/2008/10/local_case_of_
girl_texting_nud.html>.
Phones, and Pagers. School Cell Phones, Text Messaging and School
Rumor Control. 12 Oct. 2008 <http://schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell_phones
.html>.
Schools Start Year with Cell Phone Crack Down." KKCI 8.
"Teens and Technology: Youth Are Leading the Transformation to a Fully Wired
and
Project. 18 Oct. 2008 <http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/162/report
_display.asp>.
Weiner, Eric. "Our Cell Phones, Ourselves." 24 Dec. 2007. NPR. 18 Oct. 2008.
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17486953>.
EBSCOhost:
Di Lauro, Lucia, and Showers, Nyeshia. "Cell Phone Ban Rallies NYC Students."
EBSCOhost. 13 Oct. 2008. <http://web.ebscohost.com>.
Molina, Pablo G. "Pioneering New Territory and Technologies." Educause
Review. Sep-Oct. 2006 Vol 41 Issue 5: 112-134. Academic Search
Premire. EBSCOhost. 18 Oct. 2008. <http://web.ebscohost.com>.
Raskauskas, Juliana, and Slotz, Ann D. "Involvement In Traditional and
Electronic Bullying Among Adolescents." Developmental Psychology.
May 2007, Vol. 43, Issue 3: 564-575. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCOhost.<http://web.ebscohost.com>.
BOOKS:
Arceneaux, Noah, and Kavoori Anandam, ed. The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in
SocialTransformation.
Hanson, Jarice. 24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We
Live, Work and Play.
ESSAYS:
Prensky, Marc. "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants." On the Horizon. Vol. 9. 35
pars. 18 Oct. 2008. <http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-
%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf>.

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